Dietrich could not tell how to manage
his new arquebus: the Baron must teach him to take aim. Then there
was a letter from Ulm to invite the Baron to consult on the tax
demanded by the Emperor for his Italian war, and how far it should
concern the profits of the bridge; and another letter from the
Markgraf of Wurtemburg, as chief of the Swabian League, requesting
the Lord of Adlerstein to be on the look-out for a band of robbers,
who were reported to be in neighbouring hills, after being hunted out
of some of their other lurking-places.
That very night, or rather nearly at the dawn of a summer morning,
there was a yelling below the castle, and a flashing of torches, and
tidings rang through it that a boor on the outskirts of the mountain
had had his ricks fired and his cattle driven by the robbers, and his
young daughters carried off. Old Sir Eberhard hobbled down to the
hall in time to see weapons flashing as they were dealt out, to hear
a clear decided voice giving orders, to listen to the tramp of horse,
and watch more reitern pass out under the gateway than ever the
castle had counted in his father's time.
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